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These are students, but they’re also prisoners—ages 14 to 18—sentenced to time in Adobe Mountain School. As of October, this facility in north Phoenix housed 172 youths and Adobe Mountain offers them the chance to keep their education going while they’re inside.

The new P.A.C.T. (People Achieving Change Together) program is specially designed for individuals aged 18 to 24. The name was coined by Middlesex Sheriff’s Office staff members who will work in the unit.

The initiative supports efforts to improve outcomes for young parents returning from detention, out-of-home placement, or incarceration. It also aims to reduce recidivism and promote public safety. With the help of the OJJDP grant, The Up Center is now able to provide prerelease and postrelease services to young fathers, helping guide their way of thinking as they reenter society.

“I believe that helping nonviolent offenders get a second chance is a step in the right direction. That’s why I support funding for the Second Chance Act,” Congressman Scott Taylor (R-VA) said. Rehabilitation efforts, such as the ones in the Second Chance Act, will help statewide efforts to reduce the damaging cycle of recidivism.

Sheriff Loera said he has been in law enforcement for more than 40 years and believes this is one of the most successful programs he has seen. “I would encourage any county to get involved in a program like this. It works and it’s going to have a big payoff in the end.”

Cheers erupted when 34 inmates and former inmates strode across the stage in their royal blue, standard-issue caps and gowns, to pick up certificates for finishing personal and career development classes coordinated by HopeWorks – a non-profit that, among other things, combines faith and counseling to help incarcerated people learn life skills to find work and stability.

Over the past 25 years, Hour Children, a nonprofit that aids formerly incarcerated women with children trying to get back on their feet, has been quietly changing lives and broadening its scope throughout Queens.

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